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Bearcats claim third in double overtime

By Colter Robinson on Fri, 03/17/2017 - 16:48

HAYS — The Burlingame Bearcats took third place in Class 1A Division I State Basketball Championship, beating the St. Francis Indians with a final score of 59-56 March 11 at Butch Gross Coliseum in Hays.

“We were able to force overtime and then a second overtime,” said Creighton Winters, Bearcats head coach. “Zach Herrick came in and had seven points in the second overtime and hit the game winning three at the buzzer.”

The Bearcats led by 11 points in the second quarter and started losing traction in the fourth. The lead changed five times and the two teams were tied eighth times.

“This team was very good defensively,” said Winters. “It was a tight game most of the day. We were up nine in the third quarter before St. Francis made a run to take the lead.”

Semifinal loss

Bearcats lost 58-56 in semi-finals to the Montezuma Rebels March 10.

In the first quarter the Rebels and Bearcats were tied 16-16. Burlingame took the lead from the second quarter with 26-23 points. Bearcats led the match for 17 minutes 26 seconds. By the third quarter the Bearcats had an 11-point lead but Rebels managed to make a 14-point comeback.

“Offensively, this was a very unselfish basketball team,” said Winters.

The Bearcats were led by Thompson with 16 points and 6 rebounds; James Quaney had 10 points and 7 rebounds; Giffin had 11 points and Colton Noonan had 10.

First round win

The Burlingame Bearcats continued their state run with a 63-53 overtime win against Osborne in first round of the Class 1A Division I State Basketball Tournament Thursday in Hays.

The Bearcats trailed for 32 minutes and 25 seconds of the game, with Osborne leading by as many as 9 points in the third quarter.

“I thought Osborne shot the 3 really well in the first half. I thought we forced them into a lot of tough shots with our defense,” said Creighton Winters, Burlingame head coach. “They don’t see a lot of man to man during the season because of their athleticism. I thought we really caused them some problems in the second half with our defense.”

Burlingame battled back in the third and fourth quarters to tie the game 47-47 at the end of regulation. The Bearcats shot ahead with a 17-6 run in overtime to advance.

Jacob Thompson led all players, scoring 30 points with 12 rebounds; Montana Giffin backed him up with 11 points.

Third-place finish

Winters said it was a great finish to the season.

“We took a lot of teams out of their comfort zone on offense” said Winters. “We were very happy finishing the year 23-3 and finishing third at the state tournament.”

The Bearcats will lose one senior next season.

“Most everything we do will probably be the same,” Winters said. “We lose Danny Quaney, who was one of our post players, so we may be undersized next year. We may change a few things but it won’t be drastic.”